1. Describe any situation that you experienced where the communication went wrong because the listening was faulty. Analyze the situation by explaining the type of listening barrier. How could this barrier be overcome?

ANS: As pointed out earlier, listening is not easy and there are a number of obstacles that stand in the way of effective listening, both within and outside the work place. These barriers may be categorized as follows-

1. Physiological Barriers - This was discussed earlier under the barriers to communication. Some people may have genuine hearing problems or deficiencies that prevent them from listening properly. Once detected, they can generally be treated. Other people may have difficulty in processing information, or memory related problems which make them poor listeners. Another physiological barrier is rapid thought. Listeners have the ability to process information at the rate of approximately 500 words per minute, whereas speakers talk at around 125 words per minute. Since listeners are left with a lot of spare time, their attention may not be focused on what the speaker is saying, but may wonder elsewhere.

2. Physical Barriers - This refers to distraction in the environment such as the sound of an air conditioner, cigarette smoke, or an over heated room, which interfere with the listening process. They could also be in the form of information overload. For example, if you are in a meeting with your manager and the phone rings and your Mobil beeps at the same time to let you know that you have a message, it is very hard to listen carefully to what is being said.

3. Attitudinal Barriers - Pre-occupation with personal or work related problems can make it difficult to focus ones attention completely on what a speaker is saying, even if what is being said is of prime importance. Another common attitudinal barrier is egocentrism, or the belief that you are more knowledgeable then the speaker and that you have nothing new to learn from his ideas. People with his kind of closed minded attitude make very poor listeners.

4. Wrong Assumption - The success of communication depends on both the sender and the receiver, as we have seen in an earlier unit. It is wrong to assume that communication is the sole responsibility of the sender or the speaker and that listener have no role to play. Such an assumption can be a big barrier to listening. For example, a brilliant speech or presentation, however well delivered, is wasted if the receiver is not listening at the other end. Listeners have as much responsibility as speakers to make the communication successful, by paying attention, seeking clarification and giving feedback.

Another wrong assumption is to think that listening is a passive activity, in which a listener merely absorbs the toughs of the speaker. On the contrail, real listing is heard work – it requires speaking sometimes to ask questions, agree or disagree with the speaker, give feedback, etc.

Yet another barrier of this type is to assume that speakers are more powerful then listeners. Speakers are seen as being in command of things, whereas listeners are seen to be weak and lacking authority. According to communication experts however, the reserve is true. Listeners are as important and as powerful as speakers. In fact David J. Schwartz, writer and management professor, emphasizes the importance of

listening by saying “Big people monopolize the listening. Small people monopolize the talking.” 5. Cultural Barriers - Accents can be barriers to listening. Since they interface with

the ability to understand the meaning of word that are pronounced differently. The problem of different accents arises not only between cultures, but also with in a culture. For example, in a country like India where there is enormous cultural diversity, accent may different even between different regions and states.Another type of culture barrier is differing cultural values. The importance attached to

listening and speaking differs in western and oriental cultures. Generally, Orientals regard listening and silence as almost a virtue, whereas westerners attach grater importance to speaking. Therefore this world interfaces with the listening process. When two people from these two different cultures communicate.

6. Gender Barriers - Communication research has shown that gender can be a barrier to listening. Studies revealed that men and women listen very differently and for different purposes. Women are more likely to listen for the emotions behind speaker’s words, while men listen more for the fact and the content.

7. Bad Listening Habits - Most people are very average listeners who have developed poor listening. For example, some have the habit of “faking” attention, or trying to look like a listener, in order to impress the speakers and to assure him that they are paying attention. Others may tend to listen to each an every fact and, as result, miss out on the main point. Yet another habit is to avoid difficult listening and to tune off deliberately, if the subject too technical or difficult to understand. Some times, the subject itself may be dismissed as uninteresting, because the listener does not want to listen.

HOW TO OVERCOME THIS TYPE OF BARRIERS:- Although a number of barriers stand in the way of effective listening, these can be overcome through conscious efforts, training and practice. Some of the suggested methods are discussed in detail below-

1) Create a conducive environment - To an extent, you con tray to control the environment in which commutation takes place, so that listening can take place without any distractions. Ensuring a proper sound system acoustics so that the speakers is audible, avoiding place with high levels of activity, loud noises from the out side environment and poor air conditioning system, shutting off mobile phone and telephones, are some of the way in which you can overcome some of the physical barriers to listening.

2) Select Face-to-face Channels - Listening is less accurate in the in the absence of face-to-face communication. For example, listening to and understanding an idea currently over the telephone is much herder then through face-to-face meeting. Take the case of calling a restaurant and placing orders over the telephone for home delivery of a meal. The chances are that

your order may not be understood currently. Therefore, as far as possible, arrange face-to-face contact ensure more accurate listening.

3) Be Open Minded And Avoid distractions - Listening is an exhausting activity which requires the right attitude and mindset. You have to focus your attention completely on what the speaker is saying, without letting your mind wander. This kind of concentration can be developed through various techniques and through constant practice.

4) Use Non-verbal Cues to Indicate Active Listening – It is important to communicate to the speaker that you are listening actively to what he is saying. This can be done even without verbal communication. All the different aspects of non-verbal communication discussed earlier should be used for maximum effect.

5) Use Verbal communication to Indicate Active Listening – While non-verbal behavior by itself can communicate that you are an active listener, it is also important to engage in verbal communication with the speaker. Silence is often interpreted as lack of understanding or attention. You need to seek clarification, give feedback and suggestion, or just paraphrase in your own words what the speaker has said, in order to convey that you have understood his message.

6) Listening First Before Responding- Always let yourself finish listening before you being to speak. Avoid the tendency to formulate your own response, even before you have listened completely to the speaker’s words. If you are too busy thinking about what to say next, you may miss the main point that the speaker is trying to make. This also gives the speaker the impression that you are pre-occupied or rude.

7) Use the Speaker-listener Gap constructively- It was pointed out earlier that listeners have the ability to absorb information faster than speaker’s rate of speech. This spare time available to listeners is often misused by letting the mind wander and is one of the physiological barriers of listening. One way of overcoming this barrier is to try to use this spare time to note down what the speaker has said, review what has been said so far and anticipate what he may say next. Thinking ahead of the speaker and trying to guess where his talk is leading, is a good strategy for effective listening. This is not easy, but can be learnt through proper training.

8) Ask Questions of Yourself and Make Notes- In order to engage in active listening, you also need to ask certain questions to yourself while listening. For example, “What is the key idea that speaker is trying to convey?”, “How does this fit in with I already know on the subject?”, or “How is this presentation organized?” are some possible question that you could jot down along with this answers.

2. Briefly describe the kind of job that you would like to take up after completion of your MBA. List out the main stakeholders that you would have to communicate with, along with the reasons for communicating with them and the appropriate channels of communication with each stakeholder.

Ans: Well! Firstly it depends on the area of MBA specialization for example, MBA in finance, Human Resource Management or International business and marketing. However, being the student of International business and marketing I will prefer to go for some experience in hospitality industry. I think for all MBA students, the first important factor is the selection of industry and then the job title.

My preference in Hospitality industry is to increase my interaction with people. In the good hotels people from various countries, cities and regions come and it will be a good exposure for me if I find a good job of management in a reputable hotel. After having at least three years of experience I would work in some multinational company like Nestle. This will increase my understanding of doing business at international level.

Basically I believe that just after MBA, I should go in such a job which can increase my front line responsibilities, so that I may get more confidence and understand the customers' needs. Communicating with stakeholders: - Shareholders are important internal stakeholders of an organization, since they are the owners of the company. Since the capital required is huge, there are the no proprietors any more. As organization grows, shareholding is widely scattered. Therefore, it is essential to retain the shareholders confidence in the company’s management, through effective communication with them on a regular basis.There are two situations when shareholder communication is extremely vital –

1. If a company is doing well and wants to expand its scope of operations, or diversify into unrelated areas. In this case, good shareholder relations can help to raise the required capital and minimize borrowing from banks and financial institutions.

2. If a company is going through a crisis or difficult times, more communication with shareholders is needed. Take the example of Coke and Pepsi during the pesticide controversy. In such a situation, the company should be open with its shareholders and explain the problem clearly, including the steps being taken to overcome the crisis. Crisis communication is an important, but often overlooked area of shareholder communication. Lack of communication during a crisis encourages the grapevine among shareholders and leads to false rumors. For example, rumors may spread that the company is going to close down. On the other hand, if you tell the truth, chances are that your shareholders will stand by you.The appropriate media for communication with shareholders include both oral and written channels. Periodic mailers should be sent to all shareholders, giving a fair and truthful representation of the company’s result and progress on various fronts. In areas where there is an aggregation or concentration of shareholders,

shareholder meetings and conferences should be held, making presentation on the company’s progress. When the company is going through a crisis, shareholders should be taken on project site and factory visits, to show them the measures that are being taken to solve the problem.The overall guiding factor in communication with shareholders should be that they are the owners of the company.

3. Select a business article from any business publication of approximately 500 of words in length. Evaluate it in terms of: a) Appropriate level of

ratability b) Use of jargon, slang and metaphors c) common errors in English. Is it well or properly written, in your opinion?

Ans: Business Article:- Insurance Fraud Hall of Shame: Greatest Insurance Fraud Claims-Claiming false compensation from the insurer is one of the common financial crimes. Below are given some of the greatest fraud claims in the US Insurance history. 

World Trade Centre Fraud: Charles and Cynthia Gavett transformed the US’s worst tragedy in a scam by stealing USD 628000 from the life-insurers. Charles told the seven Life Insurers that his wife Cynthia Gavett had died in the September 11, 2001 World Trade Centre Attack and collected about USD 273000 from the insurers. However, they could not get away for long and both husband and wife were arrested and got 10 years imprisonment in May, 2002. 

Turquitt Drug Scam: Another innovative insurance scam had taken place in US which included giving drugs to addicts so that they die early and then taking huge insurance claims on their names. Jimme and Isom Turquitt lured alcoholics and drug addicts off the streets of Birmingham, Los Angeles by promising them jobs and rooms at their brother’s rural property. The Turquitts took out more than 100 life insurance policies worth USD 8.6 million on the addicts. The brothers gave free drugs and drugs to the addicts so they would die faster and actually collected more than USD 1.6 million before the scam was broken up. Isom made suicide in prison whereas Jimmie received life without parole in federal prison in March, 2002.  

Auto Insurance Scam in Police Station: Belinda Lovander was an employee with the New York Police Department. Using a computer, he wrote 22 fake police reports of car crashes that were staged by car ring or did not take place at all. The ring collected USD 9,00,000 in insurance claims for bogus injuries. At least 115 people were ruined for the massive fraud – the largest bust of its kind in New York State History. Lovander was arrested later and was sentenced to 6 years prison in March, 2002. 

Staging Faked Auto Accidents: Quentin “Flint” Hawkins stole USD 10 million from the insurers over a 20-year fraud rampage by staging fake auto accidents. Hawkins paid USD 500 or more to drivers and passengers in cars they maneuvered into low speed accidents. “Insured” passengers submitted bogus injury claims to insurers for up to USD 50000 each. Hawkins even recruited police officers, sons, bowling alley buddies and others to participate. Interestingly, even one woman sent Hawkins a resume for work as a fake accident victim; and more interestingly she got the job. Hawkins received 5 years in federal prison in September, 2002.

a) Appropriate level of readability: - A third very important rule of business writing to your audience and to make it simple enough for even a layperson to read and understand.As pointed out in an earlier section, readability is determined by the length of words and sentences. Robert Gunning developed what is known as the “Fog

Index” or a readability formula to measure the readability of a piece of writing. According to this formula, the appropriate reading level in business writing should be between 8 and 11.

Calculation of the Fog Index involves the following steps –1. Select a written passage of approximately 100 words.2. Calculate the average length of a sentence dividing the total number of words

in the passage by the number of sentence.3. Find the number of difficult words. A word may be defined as difficult if it

contains three or more syllables. Determine the number of difficult words per hundred, by dividing the total number of words in the passage into the number of difficult words, then by multiplying this figure by 100.

4. Add the number of difficult words per hundred and the average sentence length.

5. Multiplying the figure obtained in step 4 by 0.4, to calculate the reading grade level for which the passage was written, or the Fog Index. Ideally, the Fog Index should be between 8 and 11 for most business writing, indicating that a reader between the eight grades and the eleventh grade should be able to understand it without difficulty.

b) Jargon, Slang and Metaphors: - Jargon refers to technical terms that belong to a particular subject area or discipline. For example, medical jargon would include terms that only medical practitioners and not the lay person might understand. Such terms are to be avoided in general writing, since they would be out of context. The only instance where jargon can be used and might be essential is in reports of a highly technical nature, where the reader is in a position to understand these terms.Slang refers to casual words that are not accepted and recognized in a Standard English dictionary. While they could be used in a limited way in general or informal writing, they are to be avoided in business writing, which needs to be formal in nature.A metaphor is a figure of speech and refers to colorful comparisons which evoke visual images.

c) Common Errors in English: - “Indian English” tends to be prone to some common mistakes which should be avoided, in order to make the communication clear and easily understood by the receiver. Some of these mistakes include “Redundancies”. “Clichés” and “Frequently misused words”.

Redundancies – These refers to phrases which contain repetitive or unnecessary words to express the same meaning. This is a common Indian tendency and must be avoided. Clichés – These are phases that are overused and should be avoided, since they make reading monotonous. They should be substituted with more original Expressions.Frequently Misused Words – Certain words which sound similar or are spelt slightly different, tend to be used in the wrong context.

4. Briefly distinguish between the different types of reading. Which are the types of reading that you would be required to do most often, as a student of management? ANS: Types of Reading: - We read in different ways, depending on the purpose for which we are reading a text. Let us a look at few types of reading.

1. Skimming: let us say that you are a student of management; and as suggested by your professor, you need to buy a reference text book on Investment Management, or to write a paper on Computer Graphics. You go to a book store and see a rack full of books, with the same title, but different authors. You don’t have time to read the pages before deciding on buying the book. Therefore, you quickly go through the contents, title page and the blurb. By now you have decided buy one book. This type of reading is known as “Skimming”. Thus skimming may be defined as “looking over a text/book quickly, in order to get a general or superficial idea of the content”.

2. Scanning: As you read a text or an article, you may suddenly come across a word that is not familiar to you. Naturally, you would like to know the meaning of the word, for you own benefit. So you get the dictionary and carefully find word. You see the spelling, pronunciation, meaning and also the various uses of the same word. This type of careful reading to find out the specific, clear details is known as “scanning”.

3. Extensive Reading: As we have already mentioned, our way of reading is influenced by the purpose of our reading. Most of us have the habit of reading especially when we are free, or have a lot of leisure time. We might get hold of a novel, a comic strip, or a magazine. When we read for the pure pleasure of reading, it is known as “extensive” reading.

4. Intensive Reading: when we read shorter text like a research paper for getting specific details or information, we read slowly with a lot of concentration. This is known as intensive reading. When you read a book as resource material for research, you read it intensively because the overall understanding is not the objective or purpose of our reading. When you read an article in order to write a review on it, you read it intensively. We use all the skill of reading when we do intensive reading.

5. Loud and Silent Reading: Most of our day-to day- reading is done silently. When we read an article or an advertisement, we are engaged in the process of deriving meaning from the passage. Actually when we read aloud, our concentration is divided between reading and speaking. This makes reading difficult and may cause problems in understanding the matter. However, there are situation when we may have to read things aloud when others do not have access to them – for example, notice and circulars. We need to read the instructions aloud to student or employees, so that there is no confusion later. Apart from these extraordinary situations, most of the time the natural way of reading is silent reading, which is ideal and helps comprehension.

6. SQ3R Technique OF Reading: This technique of reading was developed by Robinson in his book “Effective Study”(1970).SQ3R stands for the initial letters of the five steps in studying a text-Survey SQuestion QRead R Recall R Review R

At last we say that reading is essentially a process of decoding message, with a view to understanding a written text. It has various purposes, such as reading for personal interest, pleasure or for gaining information. A single text is not written for any one purpose, but could meet any purpose, depending on individual needs.

Types of reading to do most often as a student of management: - As a student of management “Skimming” is the most important types of reading for me. Because by “Skimming” I can quickly go through the title page of a book. And make sure that what contents in the book have.

5. Evaluate email as a channel of internal communication, explaining its advantages and disadvantages. List out five ways in which email message could be made more effective.

Ans: E-mail is one of the most effective ways of internal communication. Since e-mail is more informal in nature, we shall discuss these in some details-

Watch the content - E-mail message are not always confidential and one can never be sure who will read them. The minute an e-mail message is sent, multiple copies are created on your own PC and server. There is no way of ensuring that the message will not be forwarded to others. Sometimes E-mail message can even be used as proof in court. Once a message is sent, a permanent record is created, Therefore, it always wise to avoid writing anything negative or offensive. It is particularly important to watch the content of official E-mail message send using an employer’s equipment. Since the employer has a write to read the message and is legally responsible for it’s content. It must be carefully worded.

Pay attention to the tone – The very nature of E-mail communication can make the message sound negative, abrupt and rude. For one thing, E-mail lacks the personal quality of face-to-face communication, where body language and other non-verbal cues may be used to make the communication more positive. Secondly, E-mail message have to be brief, using short words, sentences and lack of solutions. Brief message may be interrupted as being rude and unfriendly. Therefore, you must pay close attention to the tone of the message and ensure that you should friendly and courteous. Avoid using humor and sarcasm which might be misunderstood, or sending message when you are angry or annoyed.

Include a specific subject line – Your E-mail message should always include a subject line that clearly mentions the topic of the E-mail. Since business executives received several E-mails a day, this would help them to decide which messages are most important to them. They will also have an idea of what the message contains.

Place important information first – Since business executives do not have time to read lengthy E-mail message, it is a good idea to put all the important information that you want to convey in the first three lines of the message. Whether you are seeking a clarification, making a request, or giving instruction, it is best to mention this right at the outset, so that it is noticed.

Explain attachment in the body of the E-mail – Attachment take time to download and should be sent along with an explanation in the body of the E-mail, as to what they are all about. This will make it easier for the recipient of the message to decide whether they should be opened or not. Otherwise it will lead unnecessary waste of time.

Use the “to” and “cc” button carefully – The “to” box should be used only to send message to people who are responsible for doing something. The “cc” button is used when sending multiple copies of the same E-mail message to other recipients, who need to be kept informed on a specific issue. This should be used with care, making sure

that the message is sent only to the right persons. It is important to respect privacy, science not everyone likes having their E-mail address displayed to other. Beside, sending a long list of E-mail addresses can interfere with the reading of the main message.

Pay attention to brevity, emphasis and white space – The look, appearance and language used in the E-mail message can influence the readability of the message. Some techniques for enhancing readability of E-mail message include short paragraphs, spacing between paragraph captions, highlighting main points in bold type and use of white space.

Use the “WIFM” rule – WIFM stands for “What's In For Me?” and means that the benefits of your message to the reader should be emphasized. This involves use of the second person pronoun, “you”, rather than the first person pronouns “I” or “me”. Stressing on the “you” attitude rather than the “me” attitude was discussed in an earlier unit.

Tidy up your mail box – E-mail traffic can lead to your inbox becoming cluttered, with more message than you can handle. It then becomes difficult to retrieve important message when you need them. It is therefore a good idea to clean up your mailbox regularly, by deleting unimportant message. The important message that you that you want to refer to later should be put into separate topic folders. Every now and then, any outdated messages in the topic folder should also be deleted.

Proofread your E-mail message – just as it is important to proofread business reports, letters and memos, E-mail message should also be checked for spelling and grammar mistakes, so as to avoid any embarrassment.

Set aside time to check E-mail – E-mail should not become a substitute for face-to-face interaction at the workplace, or cut into valuable time spent on other important jobs. It is good idea to determine a time during the work day when you check respond to E-mail message.

Advantages and Disadvantages of E-mail:

ADVANTAGES:

In his Technology, Open learning and Distance Education, Tony Bates (1995, p. 207) has summarized instructional benefits of computer-mediated communications (including e-mail) as follows, and I personally concur:

Developing academic discourse Collaborative and project work Knowledge building Maximizing the knowledge and experience of all participants Increasing equity of participation Cross-cultural participation Development of reflective writing skills Overcoming social isolation Emotional involvement

Ready access to help and support Feedback to and direct student contact with the central academic team Active and interactive participation Freedom from constraints of time and location Learner control

In addition, e-mail technology is relatively cheap and simple to use. With menu-driven configurations becoming prevalent, the systems are very user-friendly. With online group discussions, particular the online role-playing, I would like to quote Harasim: "At issue is...how to build upon and retain the complexity of an environment like computer conferencing so that users learn to be critical thinkers by considering issues and ideas from many perspectives" (Harasim, 1990).

While the student engagement and the quality of discussions, two crucial aspects in improving our teaching, would be greatly improved with e-mail used for group discussions, it could mean a very challenging task in terms of writing. For one thing, being less assured about how one writing would be interprets by readers could amount to a deterrent to one's pen. Therefore, turning online group discussions into on-line role-plays might be an alternative to overcome this dispositional barrier.

DISADVANTAGES:

The use of e-mail as an aid in classroom instruction could also lead to some undesirable effects. For one thing, at this stage, e-mail is still a limited symbolic representation system void of oratory and graphic appeals. Primarily textual, it is very demanding on our writing abilities in order to avoid misunderstanding. One learner in the class commented that one really have to "be explicitly clear about humorous comments, jokes". Also to assume all learners would always prefer writing to speaking is not warranted. Some learners expressed the frustration about lengthy time spent on going through messages and writing to respond to them while orally, the exchanges could be done in just a few minutes. For people who do like to stare at the screen for too long, much more paper is likely to be consumed for downloading files.

Using e-mail as an instructional aid is also limited to certain kinds of learning. For some learning which would be best picked up through demonstration, e-mail of the current phase certainly could not replace such experiential learning event. Moreover, research still needs to be done to find out to what extent the online discussion could achieve the same dynamics as that of buzz groups or the richness and stimulation of a face-to-face encounter. Not unusually, the very technology may form a new dispositional barrier towards participation, namely, computer anxiety or computerphobics. In one course, when the writer proposed using e-mail for journal writing, it was vehemently objected by a number of learners who obviously have not had good experiences with computers.

Cost and access are still major barriers as well, especially when computing services in some schools are being transformed into cost-recovery enterprises. Many of the learners at this University in fact have to rely on the school terminals rather than personal

computers to access to free e-mail services. Thus, their freedom in choosing the time and place to be online is questioned.

Five Ways In Which E-mail Message Could Be Made More Effective:

These are the five ways in which E-mail message could made more effective.

Mind your “P”'s and “Q”'s - These refer to the three “magic” words, “Please”, “Thank You” and “Sorry”. They are all the more important in E-mail messages which have to be extra polite and friendly.

Avoid “shouting” – Shouting in an E-mail message refers to use of all capital letters in the text. All caps make it difficult to read a message and are therefore considered to be rude, like shouting,

Use friendly salutation and sign-offs – Although these are not strictly required in E-mail communication as in business letters, a salutation such as “Dear John” and a sign-off such as “Warm Regards”, helps to make the tone friendly and personal.

Avoid personal messages at work – Do not make use of the office facility to send personal E-mail message. Science confidentiality of the message is not guaranteed, it may lead embarrassment letter.

Avoid sending “junk mail” – Do not send irrelevant message or messages that are not work related, to people at work. If you overload people with this kind of mail, they will not pay attention to the really important message.

Email should be used constructively and judiciously, to meet your goals at the workplace and to enhance your performance on the job.

6. How are business reports are different from business letter? In your opinion, which is the most important step in report preparation and why?

ANS: Business Letter Writing: Business letters are used primarily to communicate with external stakeholders such as consumers, intermediars, government and bankers. The principal of business letter writing are somewhat different from the principal of writing general letter. Business letter are much more formal than general letter. Before we go into the specific of business letter writing, let us look briefly at some of these principals-

Consideration and Courtesy – It is very important to retain goodwill of customers and other external publics. A discourteous, rude letter can make you lose business. Therefore, the business letter should be extremely polite at all time and mindful of the “P”s and “Q”s, i.e., the words “Please, thank you and sorry”. Even of u happen to get a rude letter from a customer, you must respond, in order to retain the customer.

If the company has been at fault, it is important to apologize to the customers for the mistakes and for the inconvenience caused. The overall tone should not be negative. For example, avoid saying “We can not grant your request”. Instead state it in a more tactful way, explaining the reasons for not being able to grant the request. If you are sending a job rejection letter to a candidate, it should be worded politely and in a positive tone. Consideration means that you should appeal to the reader’s interest. The importance of tracing the “you attitude”, rather than the “me attitude”, was dealt with in a earlier unit. This is similar to the language of advertisements, which talk about the benefits of the products to the end users. For example, instead of saying “We will be open 24 hours”, say “You can able of round-the-clock service”.

Directness and Conciseness – Business letter should be brief and to point, avoiding unnecessary details and round about expressions. A typical Indian tendency is to be too wordy or “Verbose”, using redundancies and unnecessary words. Business letter should be maximum information to the readers, using minimum words.

Clarity and Precision – Business letters should be clearly worded, avoiding the use of jargon or technical terms, and slang words. Concrete words should be use, so that there is no ambiguity.

Example: Instead of saying “I received your communication”, it is better to be more precise by saying “I received your letter”.The letter should include a single main idea and paragraph should be used to elaborate on sub ideas.

Appearance – Apart form the content, the format, layout and overall look of the letter should be equally appealing to the reader. Attention should be paid to the quality of paper used. The margin should be appropriate, including one inch on each side and one a half inches on top and at the bottom. A business letter should include the following standard components –

1. “Date” in the upper right hand corner.2. The “To” address above the salutation, in the upper left hand corner.3. “The Salutation.”4. “Attention Line” may be included below the salutation.5. A “Subject Line” indicates the purpose of the letter and is placed between the salutation and the first line of the letter.6. The“Body”of the letter includes an explanation of the main idea(s)7. The “Close” is the ending of the letter and should be polite and friendly, so as to retain goodwill.

8. “Enclosures.”

Business Reports: A business report may be defined as “an orderly and objective presentation of information that helps in decision making and p solving.” It may be in oral or written form. A business reports has certain unique characteristics –

A report varies in purpose, length, format and complexity.Purpose – The purpose of business reports may be to a) inform b) analyze or c) persuade. A report that seeks to merely inform the reader is simple and states facts with no persuasive intent. An example of report with this purpose is a report on company policies and procedures. Other examples are sales reports, monthly departmental reports and project reports showing progress on project.Sometimes a repot may have the twin purpose of informing as well as analyzing. Merely proving data may be meaningless, unless the data is analyzed and interpreted. All research reports, such as market research reports based on surveys, come under this category. The information gathered from a survey is analyzed and then presented in a meaningful form. A business repot may also have the purpose of persuading or recommending a course of action. A research report may also make some suggestions, based on the data and the analysis of the data. A marketing government seeking funds for building a research facility, or for some other purpose, are other example of persuasive reports.Length, format and complexity – Business reports vary form simple one page memo format, to more complex reports such as “manuscript reports”, running to several pages. Research reports are the most complex and the longest of all reports. The purpose of the report determines the length, format and complexity.Thus “Business Reports” are different from “Business Letter”.

The most important steps in report preparation:-

Since reports are a key to the success of any business, they should be carefully planned, organized, written and presented. A lot of groundwork should precede the actual writing of the report. We shall briefly discuss the five main steps in preparation – 1. Planning the report – The first question to be asked before gathering information

and writing the report, is regarding the type of report that is required. We classified report into four main types, based on the purpose, the audience to whom they are addressed and the frequency of the report.

It must be remembered that most report are required by management to solve a problem, or to make a decision. Therefore, the basis, or starting point for a report is a problem. Reports are written after a problem is analyzed and a solution to the problem is found. The problem may be of a day-to-day nature, such as determining which brand of overhead project to recommend for purchase. Or, the problem may be a negative one, such as sales of the company showing a decline. In any case, the problem is the single fundamental issue to be addressed in the report and should be clearly determined, right at the outlet.

Once the problem has been defined, it must be broken up into sub issues or sub problems, by asking the question “what’, “why”,”when”,”where” and “who?”2. Selecting a Method to Solve the Problem - After defining the problem and

doing an audience analysis, a method has to be selected to collect the necessary information to solve the problem. Broadly, information are gathered using secondary research method, such as books, magazines, newspapers, internet and other available sources, or through primary research method, such as surveys that provide first hand information.

3. Gathering and Organizing Data – Once the method of gathering information has been selected, the actual process of gathering the information begins. Science this is time consuming and expensive, only information that is relevant to the report and the study must be gathered. The raw data should be evaluated for its usefulness and organized in a form that is meaningful to understand. Tables, chart, graphs and summaries should be used to do this.

4. Arriving at a Conclusion – Once the information has been checked for its validity and reliability, it must be interpreted and conclusions drawn. Sound conclusions cannot be made if the interpretation of data is the tendency of the research to use subjective judgment, instead of objective reasons based on fact.

5. Write the Report – The actual process of writing the report should being only after a satisfactory solution to the problem has been found. As pointed out earlier, a well written repot that contains a bad answer, is worse than a badly written report contains a good answer.

Once you are ready to begin writing, certain procedures for writing should be followed –

Set a date for completion of the report and get started early. Start with an easy section. Write quickly, with the intention of rewriting. Set aside uninterrupted writing time. Review and rewrite where necessary. State facts in an objective manner. Provide expert opinions.

Use documentation. Use “concrete” nouns. Avoid pronouns referring to the writer or reader. Use tenses correctly. Use “translation” sentences. Define key terms carefully.

These are the most important steps in report preparation.